What did Donald Trump do today?
He got reminded of his campaign promises.
Philip Sean Grillo was convicted last year on five federal charges, including one felony count, for his actions during the January 6th coup attempt at the U.S. Capitol. He was sentenced to a year in prison today by Judge Royce Lamberth, who was appointed to the federal bench by President Reagan.
When Lamberth ordered Grillo taken into custody immediately, Grillo screamed "Trump's gonna pardon me anyway!" Friends of Grillo's in the courtroom claimed to reporters that they were in touch with Trump's transition team about his case specifically.
If Trump keeps his word, Grillo would in fact be pardoned, along with the more than 1,200 other people convicted of crimes related to the January 6th attack, where his supporters tried and for some time succeeded in preventing Congress from certifying President Biden's election. Trump has repeatedly promised to pardon the people who, as Trump's own felony indictments for the January 6th conspiracy show, were acting at his instruction as he desperately attempted to stay in power.
Of course, Trump does not always keep his campaign promises, and even his staunchest (and most desperate) supporters are starting to worry that he'll forget about them.
Nevertheless, most people expect that Trump will issue a blanket pardon for all those who committed crimes on his behalf on January 6th—and possibly for himself as well, whether or not anyone besides him thinks it'd be constitutionally valid. He will certainly kill all federal criminal investigations into himself.
If Trump, who has called the first attack to breach the halls of Congress since the War of 1812 a "day of love" does pardon the January 6th attackers, then his beneficiaries will include:
- David Dempsey, among the most violent of the rioters who directly assaulted the police protecting Congress. He flashed white supremacist gang signs at his sentencing, and called for politicians who opposed Trump to be murdered.
- Stewart Rhodes, the leader of a anti-government "militia" group, whose family testified to years of abuse and now fears what he will do to them if he is released. Rhodes was one of the main organizers of the event that brought the attackers to Washington in the first place, and made sure that the "peaceful protestors" were supplied with knives, batons, military-style uniforms, body armor, helmets, and eye protection.
- Daniel Ball, who brought an explosive device into Congress and detonated it in a crowd of law enforcement officers, injuring some of them.
- Sean McHugh, who claimed he joined the assault on the vote certification because he thought Congress was "protecting pedophiles." McHugh had a prior conviction for unlawful sex with a minor.
- Ryan Samsel, who in the middle of the assault targeted a female Capitol Police officer and knocked her unconscious. Samsel has a long history of violence against women.
- the unknown person who planted pipe bombs in Washington the night before the riot
- the various rioters whose contribution to "defending democracy" was shitting and pissing on the floor
Why does this matter?
- Releasing violent criminals as an act of political retribution is bad even when nobody expects any better from a president.